Ballad of the Blue Roses
by Ovo
Summary: LoM. Along the path of life, there are those who protect, those who heal, and those who seek harm for gain. Then there are those who get caught in the middle and take a stand. Elazul recruits Galathea to investigate a murder in Etansel. Things go awry.
1. Shattered to the Core

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter One**  
_** Shattered to the Core**

Sightless, she met his eyes. His distinctive, crimson fingerprints stood out on her pale cheek, but the blood had long since spilled over, dribbling down her neck. Her chest was torn open, which bothered him, but in a peripheral way.

"It doesn't make sense..." She was dead – her core was gone – yet she hadn't turned to sand. Her body remained... and she was dead. He looked up and found Esmerelda stricken, face in hands. She looked like he felt – lost and hurting.

But they weren't alone anymore, and that made all the difference.

"Get Pearl," he told her, "And Agatha – and tell Diana."

"You aren't going to stay down here alone..." she said, hesitant to ask. But the lilt in her voice gave to the question, _Are you?_ The Jumi girl let her hands drop, pressing them to her chest as her anxious gaze darted around the grotto.

"No, I..." Elazul stood, and caught sight of the blood that marred his fingers. He couldn't just _wipe it away_, and it frightened him, "I know what to do. Trust me."

---

The longer they sat watching, the harder it was to do the right thing. They huddled amongst the roots, and the draping shadow of Trent's canopy kept them well hidden. Across the yard, an impatient caller was repeatedly pounding on their front door. They knew him by sight, and he was certainly in a mood.

"He's been knocking like that for, like, an hour," Bud estimated. "Must be really important."

"Yeah." Lisa stood up and brushed off her robe. _Someone_ had to be responsible, after all. "We really should see what it's about."

"But-" Abruptly, her brother pulled her back down. Pointing down the path, he hissed, "Wait, look; she's back!"

Slowed by the sight, the woman paused completely to take stock of the situation. She tapped her fingers against the thin staff in her hand, and her cautious gaze drifted over the fields, and back over their hiding place. Looking again to their as-of-yet-unaware guest, she took slow measured steps up the path. Elazul had stopped, abruptly, and nearly backed into her. But she must have said _something_ because he spun on his heel and narrowly avoided it.

From where he was, Bud could hear the thin murmur of the Jumi's voice, punctuated by wild gesticulation. _Wild_, by comparison to Thea's stone-stillness anyway. Whatever she said was too low to hear – something about _hawking_ if his lip-reading was right, but that didn't make much sense at all.

Elazul moved aside as she brushed past, and he followed her into the house. ... and out of sight.

"Darn," Bud pouted. It was an inconvenient turn, but easily remedied.

"Wait, maybe we shouldn't-" Lisa spoke too late, for her errant sibling had already made a dash for the tree-home. Hitching up her robes, she matched his pace and stopped when he did. The door was open, and the afternoon sunlight spilled over the threshold. Unable to see into the dimly lit interior, aside the stray light from the window, the boy crept over the doorstop and paused. By the hearth was their guest, staring his way with a guarded expression. Beside him was their Master, leaning heavily against the table; her back was to them, and Bud decided by that stance that hiding would be a most wise idea.

"What have I said," the boy had nearly made it to the study before her voice stopped him in his tracks, "about answering the door?"

"Er... Hey, 'Thea." He might have liked to think of himself as the best actor on the world stage, but when she turned to face him, he knew she could see right through him. "What's up? Company, huh? Wow, we sure haven't seen _him_ in a while!"

The woman's gaze shifted to the girl beside him. Lisa had been with him from the beginning; no matter what, she'd never let him down. Galathea stared between them, and asked, "Well?"

"Never for strangers," Lisa began, and paused. The woman waited five patient beats before pressing for the second half.

"And?"

"And Elazul's stranger than most," Bud supplied helpfully. The boy giggled at his own joke, and his sister covered her mouth with both hands. The Jumi scowled, but Galathea's eyes narrowed ever slightly.

"I see," she said. There were two ways to interpret her expression – anger and amusement – and each twin might have figured for one and the other. The woman breathed a long inward sigh, and leaned back against the table. "If you are coming inside now, please remember your shoes..."

She didn't have to finish, _do not belong in the house_, before the children had dropped to the floor to remove their footwear.

"You're not mad?" Lisa asked apprehensively, while Bud tried to shush her before she blew their luck.

"What's done is done," Galathea replied. That was the end of it, and the elves retreated upstairs. Out of sight, Bud stopped to listen; so his plans may have changed, but rarely was he forced to abandon one altogether. Lying himself at the top of the staircase, he held his breath and waited.

Galathea pushed Elazul's patience, arranging a row of seeds and second of metal coins on the table. However well organized they appeared, it seemed they weren't good enough. But by the time he thought to speak and break the silence himself, she was finished.

"Let me guess," she said, observing her handiwork with crossed arms. Abruptly, she held up a hand to recant. "No, let me ballpark. Is the world in danger?"

"Er." Elazul wasn't sure what to honestly say to that, and checked himself. "No; I mean... I don't think it is."

"Hmm." Galathea left her arrangements, and moved past him to the mantle. Nonchalantly, as if it were an everyday conversation, she ventured, "The Jumi are in danger, then?"

Wanting to scream, _Yes!_ he again checked himself. Individuality didn't come to him easily, but he was learning – one death didn't mean there was a danger to the whole. All the same, he wouldn't have come if he hadn't wanted guidance. "I... don't know."

"No? Why don't you know?" Yet if there was something he admired about Galathea, it was her certainty. Unlike others of her world, she spoke what she meant and meant what she spoke. He had seen her speak to liars and princes, all the same way; if not dependable, she was nothing. "It must be important, if you were willing to knock down my door for it."

Still, it was difficult to admit. While she hung a kettle over the fireplace, he examined one of the coins from the table in the palm of his hand. It seemed to bear the emblem of a lady-fish... and he swore he'd seen that image somewhere before. "There was a killing."

"Alright." She spoke to him like she spoke to the children. She pressed on only when he failed to do so, "And?"

Elazul replaced the coin to the table, and tried to follow her lead. "It's like nothing I've ever seen."

"Was it a hunter?"

With her now-full mug in hand, Galathea pulled out a chair and stopped short. Before sitting down, she placed the tea aside and put the Undine coin back where it belonged. The woman could have sworn she'd had them all in order, only a moment prior.

"I..."

"Elazul," she said, reclining now and warming her hands on the earthen vessel, "You know me. I'm not going to turn anyone away, least of all you. Just tell me what you know – what you want me to do – and I'll look into it."

---

Pensive, she studied the grotto – little more than a niche in the lower cliffs below Etansel. It was understandable for the Jumi to be skittish, but she wasn't sure what they wanted _her_ for. The body was gone... little specks of blood were there, but only because she had an inkling on where to look in the dusky torchlight.

"So you found her here." Galathea knelt, much as Elazul had done, and inspected the floor. "No core. A Jumi _always_ disappears?" From her limited perspective, that was the case, but she didn't know if there was a known, perhaps famous exception.

"Always."

_Always, except this one_, the woman thought. She considered the possibilities, dismissing all but one. "Could she have been part human?"

The Jumi knight shook his head, and sighed, fixing his gaze on the cavern floor. "Doesn't happen."

Galathea adjusted her gauntlet, frowning deeply. Something about the site tickled her mind, but she just couldn't grasp it. She stared at the blood, and eventually shook her head to clear it. Whatever was bothering her, wasn't coming up again.

"Where's the body now?" she asked. Elazul was still staring at his feet, she noticed, but he looked to answer.

"They probably moved it."

"Find out where," she instructed. Standing, she dusted herself off and glanced around, almost paranoid. "Don't tell them I'm here, yet."

The Jumi paused, mid-turn. "Why not?"

"Trust me." She clasped a hand to his shoulder, pressing him forward into the rain. "I'll be waiting."

---

Once having learned of the body's location, he returned swiftly. Galathea moved with wraithlike efficiency through Etansel, avoiding everyone else by way of the Jumi's guidance and the night's overcast sky, although he wasn't sure _why_. Once they arrived, Galathea took two steps into the room and stopped. Her fingers tightened, knuckles white against her staff, but she stood death-still, gaze locked onto the dead girl's face.

"What's her name?" she asked, and the question softly cracked.

"Peri," Pearl answered, from beside the deathbed. Galathea barely nodded; there was nothing she could do... not now. The pieces she needed weren't here, and to find them – if she could find them – was dangerous at best.

"I don't know who could have done this," she admitted, giving council best she could, "It could be an isolated incident, or it could be the start of a whole new hunt."

"If you let them know I'm here... it'll scare them off, I'm sure, and we might never find them. If you don't, he might strike again, and it could very well be too soon." She sighed softly, and added, "Either way can be dangerous."

"You should talk to Diana. I... You know she has better judgement," Elazul suggested, and she couldn't argue. And besides which, Diana might have known something – about the girl, about the current Jumi life – that might have had some weight.

"I'll do that now," the woman decided. Turning to leave, she dismissed them offhand, "Keep sharp; I'll find you if I need you."

"Thea..." Elazul caused her to hesitate; soft, worried, uncertain. "We don't... know, don't _die_, like this," he gestured to Peri, laid out as she'd been found. "What do you do with a body?"

They were both looking for that answer, waiting with frightful resignation. Galathea smiled grimly; her eyes were perilously bright in the refracted light, and her voice thick. "You burn them."

---

There was a rhythmic tapping along the outer walk, beyond the door. Rubens looked to Diana, and waited – familiarity was nothing, and could get one killed in dire times. He stood before the door, ready to defend it if absolutely necessary. The sound was tempting, unbearable.

It seemed that everything moved slowly – the tapping stopped, door opened inward, and from the embrace of darkness, the far-famed Heroine of Fa'Diel appeared, staff in hand. For a moment in time, it felt that she had never left; he had never been afraid. Behind him, he heard Florina sigh and Diana take up the role of leader and earned friend.

"I thought you might appear," she said by way of greeting, "And I suppose I know why you're here."

"You should," Galathea replied in her typical blunt way.

"Whenever it is that Elazul finds need," Diana announced dryly, "it is often that he seeks the comfort of an outsider than that he turns toward his brethren."

"Mustn't be often at all, then," the woman said.

"No. It is..." the diamond Jumi sought the word, and found one adequate enough, "Peculiar."

"You don't want my help, then?"

"I did not say that." Diana smiled faintly. "We forget ourselves. How have you been, my friend?"

"Better than you, I regret to say." Pleasantries were not her strong point, although she might have tried for the sake of the audience, she felt better cutting to the point, especially seeing as it was merely the three of them. "What do you know of this terror that haunts your city? Who harms the Jumi while I still draw breath?"

"We do not know." Galathea gripped her staff and hung her head. _Of course not; that would be too easy._ "It's not Sandra, we suspect that much."

"Different handscript, for one," Rubens added, and the woman's head snapped up. She stared at him, and it frightened him.

"You found a note?"

"With the body," Diana replied for him, and he was grateful for her drawing that startled gaze.

"Oh." The diamond Jumi reached into the pocket of her blouse, and held it forth. Galathea stepped forward, apprehensively, to take the scrap of paper with steady fingers. She didn't recognize the elegance of the paper, or the script itself, but there was a message there. There were two in fact, one more hidden than the other, and it filled her with sick dread. "_Oh_, Galathea you _fool_."

Diana called after her, but she was already gone.

---

Elazul took a moment alone to collect his wits. The valleys below were serene, encased in the morning fog, as he stared out over the rocky dawn. Something brushed against his arm, fluttering down to catch against the rocks. He stared at it, not recognizing it at first, but on closer inspection...

A scrap of paper. It was odd, and made his skin crawl; Jumi didn't keep records, but memories in living rock. He chased it as it flitted down the path, apprehending it underfoot as it animately sought to get away. _First Sandra, now..._

Stooping to pick it up, he examined it closely, and found folded within a message, just like the first. Upon reading it, he cried out softly, and, started, let the paper slip to the wind. Recapturing it didn't matter, although he tried at first – he had seen what it had read. And as the words sunk in, he shook his head, denying it softly. "_No!_"

* * *

**A/N**: Hey. Long time no write. I've been around, right, but mostly all of lurking and occasionally commenting. I've had ideas, but... most of 'em been tidbits up 'til now. I have an idea of where this is going, and I have an idea of where it'll end. Hopefully this one _won't_ take four years. 

A couple of important notes: I haven't played LoM for a while – I have a good memory, for games at least, but maybe not a good enough memory. So I might contradict things. As far as Jumi stuff goes... let me say this – I'm not sure where some of the conventions come from, and how accurate they are. Again, I'm going by what I found in the game, and I'm going by what makes the most sense to me. All in all, if I make a mistake... feel free to point it out to me.

Glad to be back... well, you know. Writing Seiken Densetsu stuff... somehow it always feels like coming home. Heh.


	2. In the Dark of the Earth

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Two**  
_**In the Dark of the Earth**

The caves echoed with her urgent footfalls, and the swift, rhythmic tapping of her staff. Galathea stopped short, feeling the rock-face ahead. There was something more that she had missed, a rift barely wide enough to squeeze through. The air beyond was still – it might not have been the only way around, but there was no wonder why she had missed it the first time. The Jumi might not have known, might not have remembered all the secrets of this mountain.

"_Lumina_," she murmured softly. The silver spark of the elemental lit the way, briefly bathing the rock in mimicry of moons' light.

For all her hurry to get there, the woman stopped cold. It _was_ a trap; of that she was certain. After all, perhaps there was nothing back there but her own tomb. Hesitant to investigate and pressed to go on, Galathea braced herself. The worry was always worse than the reality...

A pinpoint of light darted across the wall, and a muffled, slight scraping from behind brought her around. Sweeping her staff from the floor in the same fluid motion it took to spin about, she struck nothing, but held her weapon defensively against the figure who appeared out of the dark.

"So you decided to show up after all," his voice smiled, and the speck of light danced across her cheek. He murmured, "Pretty little thing."

"Do I know who you are?"

"No." It was a flat rejection; an honest answer to a question he hadn't been expecting. She squinted as the light flittered between her eyes. "I'm not so stupid to pretend I don't know who you are."

"_Lumina_," Galathea intoned, and the room lit up. For an instant, she saw him as more than a mere shadow... he had the gaze of a demihuman – hungry and attentive. Sloppily tied back, his sweeping hair was a dim shade of green in the darkened cavern, contrasting against bronze skin and mottled white clothes. Standing out against the rest, Galathea could barely believe, his core shimmered with a light of its own.

_Something's not right_. From the moment Elazul had showed up on her doorstep, something wasn't right.

"You killed a fellow Jumi, set her out where someone would find her... Not to get to me, by any chance?"

There was a mirror in his hand... Darkness fell again, and Galathea focused her gaze on his shimmering core.

"Incidental, friend," he droned, almost recited, "But my, you are paranoid."

"You sent me a message," she pointed out, trying to heed the little enigma nagging at her to find it. Something was wrong, something wasn't right. She thought about his eyes, she thought about his light green core. Abruptly, she thought of Elazul, and, as suddenly, Pearl.

"_I_..." he seemed to savor the word, "figured you might show up. So I decided to turn the situation to my advantage."

_That's it_, she realized. _Oh, Goddess, that's **it**. Peridot!_

Knowing what she did, Galathea struck. The butt of her staff cracked against the Jumi's sternum, and he fell backward, clutching at his chest.

"I'd say you've put yourself at one hell of a disadvantage, whoever you are," the woman growled. She held her staff parallel to his core, still shining brightly and clear in the dark. "Whatever you're offering, I don't want it."

"I'm not offering," the stranger rasped. Before she could move, he seized the end of her staff, simultaneously lunging and pulling her toward him. She twisted away, equidistant from the knife that appeared in his hand; neither let go of her weapon, and they found themselves back to back. Tearing away, Galathea jerked her staff free, and spun around to face him again.

In the dark quiet, waiting for the other's move, over the sound of her own breathing, the woman became aware of the resounding _click, click, click!_ that was beginning to echo, and-

The Jumi's core flashed; he seemed similarly surprised.

"_Thea?_"

"Well _he's_ early..."

---

The flash in his core made him pause, and he picked his way more carefully as the floor evened out. _What would another Jumi be doing down here?_ Maybe it was Pearl – or Blackpearl; he _hoped_ it was Blackpearl. With Galathea, of course...

"_Thea_?" he called again. The soft scuffling reached his ears, and sporadic _crack_ of wood on stone. Drawing his sword, the knight crept forward slower and slower as a sickly feeling of dread weighed him down.

"Elazul, stay _bac-_!"

Now, bereft of fear and worry, he hurried on. The first he saw was a flutter of cloth, and he was close enough to hear Galathea curse out loud. Immediately, she was in front of him; a knife clattered past them, struck down by her staff, and they followed it to the ground. His sword skittered out of reach.

None too gently, Galathea scrambled off him and rushed forward, blocking the narrow passage. Wincing, Elazul followed her lead, pulling himself off the cave floor and taking up behind her. Blood trailed down his arm, and he realized that the woman held herself crabwise, not because of the rock that encroached upon them, but to defend her left side; the cloth along her forearm was bloodied and the flesh torn, raw.

"Found your culprit," she wheezed. Past her low shoulder, a lone man stared back at him, wearing a frightened, hunted expression.

The Jumi was a stranger, and Elazul felt a kind of sympathy for him. He seemed curiously familiar, although he could have honestly said that they never met before. For a moment, for the first time, he doubted his friend's judgement. "You're sure?"

The pained façade melted into a heinous sneer. "_Stupid_ Jumi. You're all alike."

"I'm sure." The woman sighed, recovering enough strength to level her staff. She was defensive, _determined_, while the shock of truth struck Elazul to the core. She tapped him blindly with the rear tip of her staff, and spoke softer. "Hey. It's not over yet."

"But..." There were no _but_s, nor was there anything else to say. Galathea could be cold, because she could be certain. And Elazul trusted her, like he trusted no one else. Tearing his gaze away from the Jumi, he felt hollow. His own voice felt thin, and burned his throat. "Now what?"

The fleck of light on his chest startled him back to himself. Galathea braced herself, seeing only the outline reflection, as the little mirror reappeared in the Jumi's hand. The light grew – for a moment she could clearly perceive herself, and Elazul's dumbfounded expression; soon it was so bright that there was nothing left.

"Now, you die for me."

There was no weight, no point of contact. For a brief moment, there was nothing but light.

Then, there was only the three of them, and it seemed to her that they had struck the cave floor, long ago. The world was dark, almost _phased_, like spirits of the Underworld. Even so, she could see him clear as if the sun were shining from above. Galathea was dramatically aware of Elazul at her back, and the errant Jumi standing over them both. The knife in his hand...

"Inconvenient, but not without its reward."

...her staff, callously resting against her knee...

"Either way, you won't be troubling me anymore."

...one chance, _one_ chance left.

"I'll simply have to find another-"

The last word garbled as she moved; the brightness faded away as his life force shattered, his spirit flowed about her fingers. It was an unfamiliar feeling, she thought, as the world faded away.

---

The sand was in her clothes, itching and scratching. She was already sore, and groggy, and beside her, she saw the shadow moving over the stage of the battle and picking up the gleaming pieces of Jumi core. Only it wasn't a shadow – she could see the boots, clear as day, and the soft, elegant hands. Her staff wasn't with her, it seemed, and her gasp of pain caused the shadow to stand tall, and the boots to spin around and face her. The staff... _her_ staff; the pain, blinding agony...

She would have screamed, if only she had the breath.

---

When he came around, Elazul was groggy and in pain. A strange chill crept beneath his skin, crawling around deeper and deeper until it had long since prickled his bones. Most worrisome of all, he couldn't _see_. The earth may as well have swallowed him whole.

_You know this dark..._

_No_.

_You've been lost like this before..._

_Shut **up**_.

He was... they were... _They_ were.

"'Thea?" If she was here, she'd find him. She'd never let him down, if... _If she..._ "Galath-"

His voice cracked, and his throat constricted. He couldn't breathe; he was choking on air. Strangled sobs forced their way through his clenched teeth. Tears pricked his eyes, unbidden, and a shiver ran up his spine.

_Do you remember, what true fear is?..._

_Yes_.

_Do you, really?..._

_Yes!_

There was no time, but moments crawled by. The soft fluttering in his ears kept to an ancient meter. There was nothing, nothing, nothing, and at best he tried not to think about it. The darkness was sucking the warmth from his body, and he felt like dreaming.

_You're alone..._

_No..._

_All alone..._

_Get up!_

After an eternity, rocking, shivering, hurting, he forced himself to listen to reason. So _what_ if he were alone? How else was he going to get _anywhere_ if he didn't at least try?

Trying to stand, he found himself dizzy and immediately fell back down to a crouch. The rock was unfamiliar beneath his fingers, and strangely hushed. There was nothing immediately around him but natural grit.

Further – and a ways to his left, he mentally noted – his fingers came across something smooth and cold. Whatever it was fit in his hand; he held onto it as evidence that he was not the sole anything here. Further still, an uncounted number of heartbeats later, he found thick, woven cord, over a solid surface. It took him a moment to recognize – he'd never actually _handled_ it, after all. It took him a moment to be certain...

_Galathea's staff_.

"...'Thea?"

He followed the staff, and found her – for it must have been her. She had remained as she had hit the ground, or so it seemed to him; her skin was cold as stone, and Elazul trembled, waiting for her to draw breath.

She _was_ breathing. Shallow... not getting enough, perhaps, for a human.

Suddenly, he realized that he didn't know much about humans. Not _enough_. He knew Galathea, who scowled and smiled; who _helped_, because she could; who arranged rocks into piles that seemed to have meaning only to herself. She liked bellgrapes, he remembered offhand...

But he didn't know... they were under Etansel, _somewhere_, but he couldn't find his way out blind and stone deaf... and he couldn't leave her as she was, and he couldn't help her.

... couldn't protect her.

At a loss, he remained by her side, staff in one hand, hers in the other. He didn't know how long it was, but he woke abruptly to the sound of footfalls echoing down the path. And there was something else, a freshness in the thick, almost stagnant air.

"Pearl?"

He was hesitant to believe. In the dark, he couldn't see her. But, it seemed, she saw him, for she paused and didn't move. For a time, she said nothing. When at last she broke the silence, there was disbelief in her voice, harsh and whispered. "_Mana._"

* * *

A/N: Action always makes me jittery, as I have quite a bit of difficulty in writing it to my satisfaction. Ah well. Up next, magic mirrors and startling... uh... surprising... ... Up next, plot twists and so on.  



	3. Fresh Wounds, Old Scars

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Three**  
_**Fresh Wounds, Old Scars  
**

Galathea awoke to an unfamiliar humming in the back of her skull. That wasn't the worst of her problems, she knew, but she wasn't quite awake yet and couldn't conjugate everything at once. The bed was hard, with the ceiling farther than she was used to – that alone would have caused her pause. She sat up slowly, covering her eyes to block out the insanely bright light. Swinging her feet over the edge, she peered past her sleeve and found a floor made up of flagstones.

"'Thea-"

A youth had rushed to her side; she held up a hand, cutting him off.

"My slippers are missing," she said, "This is going to take a moment."

Her slippers weren't missing, and she knew that she wasn't home; but neither was she camped out nor holed up in some out of the way inn. Once she got past the little things, wasting a lot of effort in doing so, there was a familiarly unfamiliar man – _boy? Man_, she decided, uneasy with being uncertain – to consider. She tried to think if she had seen him before, as he did seem familiar... Until she hit the fact that this was Etansel, where no human ought to have been.

"Um?" Whoever it was, he knew her; his recognition was obvious, beyond the name. She didn't know him to look at him... a soft-cut, brown haired, blue-eyed boy, but it was the eyes that got to her most.

_Etansel_.

"See, Florina, she had to-"

_Peridot..._

She'd figured it out by then; the idea wormed its way through the denial, even as she pulled out the front of her shirt to see the azure stone glinting with a quiet light of its own. The first score was deeper, well healed by now. That was his... And the second, a star-cracked pattern...

That was hers.

"Anise's Divine Fire," she swore crossly. That irritating buzz was most definitely the _least_ of her worries.

---

For the second time in as many days, Galathea found herself standing before the Throne of the Clarius. There was a slowness to her mind – a torpor she couldn't quite shake – and she worried. Normally, she knew, she should have been seething.

"There were two of them," she worked her way through what she knew, pacing the length of the room and back again. Jumi eyes followed her steps, and Jumi feet moved their respective owners out of her way as she moved past. "One trades places with your girl, for _what_? Trust among the Jumi? Was he a spy? Maybe it was to get the core, but... no. This isn't a simple hunter-"

_Or is it?_ Galathea stopped, second-guessing herself. She _never_ second-guessed herself. _No, it isn't_, she shooed away the thought, and continued her pacing. "It's not. There's no sense in trying to shake up the Jumi only to take the core elsewhere, because then your cover is blown and you'll still have an inspector on your tail."

There was a pain in her chest; the woman decided to call it a headache and be done with it.

"Whoever he is is long gone," she surmised. Looking to Diana for the first time since she'd come in, she followed certainly, "However, I'd still advise no fewer than three Jumi anywhere at one time. No telling if Peri wasn't the only one, unless... you know all Jumi by sight?"

"There are too many," Diana admitted, "Old and new, since Etansel fell."

"No, of course not," Galathea groused to herself, "That would be too easy."

Showing more frustration than she did throughout the entirety of the ordeal so far, the woman suddenly thumbed back at Elazul. "How old his he?"

Diana looked over her shoulder, and back to Galathea. "How old do you think he is?"

Something in the diamond-Jumi's manner might have told that she didn't know, or couldn't care. After a moment's thought, Galathea concluded that, as he was, he wasn't much older than she was when her Quest began. "Can't be older than twenty."

Elazul, taken affront for having been spoken about as if he weren't present, scoffed and remained silent. The action wasn't lost on Galathea, but still she addressed Diana, "Alright, then, how old was he five years ago?"

"Five years younger. Jumi are forged of experience, not time. He could be five or five hundred; would it matter?"

"I suppose not..."

At the woman's fidgeting, Diana posed the question, "How old are you?"

Galathea stopped, and glared, having been asked the Unaskable Question.

"Older," she admitted unhappily.

---

_I'm leaving Etansel_, she had told Diana, _and I'm taking him with me. It isn't a good idea, but I may only have one chance at restoring us both_.

The unspoken, grounding thought was that they would be stuck like this. As much as Galathea respected the Jumi, and found them enchanting, she couldn't help but find the situation unfair. She was human, and she thought of herself as such, reminding herself every step forward. Elazul was a Jumi, the Jumi she was now. That was against the way things were: She was human, he was Jumi; that was how they began, that was how they should end.

Other thoughts plagued her mind, reminding her how lucky she was that it only turned out _this_ way. And how she had failed...

"I could have saved her," she stated abruptly.

"We couldn't find her core," Elazul considered out loud, then shrugged. She hadn't spoken four words to him since she woke up, and now, as they followed the road to Domina, this wasn't what he might have expected. Or hoped. "Maybe-"

"I shattered it. Perhaps, if I hadn't..."

_If you hadn't... what?_ She had a plan. She always had a plan, but now she seemed uncertain. "You don't know that."

"No matter."

The silence returned, thick as spidercloth in his throat.

---

It was two o' clock, time for a late tea and biscuits. He made up for it by not eating dinner, and with a heavy breakfast. He had put the kettle on at quarter of, and the biscuits were done the day before, and let settle to a crispy perfection.

He hadn't anticipated the doorbell, at this hour – not a lot of crime happened in the middle of the day, was his experience, most of it happened late at night. But he was on it at the first pulse of an emergency.

What he got was a strangely familiar Jumi and a not at all familiar human kid.

"Inspector," the Jumi said, and he squinted at her with all due suspicion. It took a look up and down twice, and one sideways before he took note of the staff.

"Lieutenant!"

"Lieutenant?" Elazul hissed, incredulous, and Galathea shushed him with, "It's an honorary thing."

Taking no notice of them, Inspector Boyd carried on, "I almost didn't recognize you; that's one impressive getup you've got there. Come in, come in, you're just in time for tea."

The strange lollygagger seemed to hang about as Galathea hunched down and stepped inside his modest home, and had the audacity to try to follow her. But that wasn't about to happen on _his_ watch, "Excuse me, sonny, you got some gall trying to march in unannounced and uninvited."

"Are you kidding me?" he demanded, looking over the inspector's shoulder at Galathea.

"It's alright," she vouched for him, "he's a friend."

That changed Boyd's tone entirely, "Well, nice to meet you lad! Any friend of the Lieutenant's is a friend of mine."

The kettle whistled impatiently, and the inspector excused himself in a flurry of underfoot reports.

When he was out of sight, Elazul tugged on Galathea's arm and whispered, "_He's_ the one you're asking for help?"

"Yes," she answered softly, "He is, believe it or not, better than me in at least one respect."

The knight scoffed, "And what would that be?"

"He keeps notes," without staying to allay his fears, the woman crept towards the kitchen and poked her head around the corner. "Inspector, I need information."

---

The little cottage on the outskirts of Domina was cozy. It consisted of a bedroom, a study, and a kitchen; that was that. Filing cabinets were piled on filing cabinets, and loose leaves of paper scattered everywhere. Amidst it all, an invitingly plush chair and a nightstand stood together against the chaos. Boyd got the chair, but that was a matter of principle. Galathea took up on the floor, piling paperwork by date and going over it in an anti-timewise manner. Stuck with his pride, Elazul stood by patiently, and was beginning to develop a crick in his neck from the low-lying ceiling.

"... but I must say, I haven't heard anything of the Jumi in years – you know what they say, no news is good news, and Headquarters sends no news these days – but no, not since you up and solved their trouble for 'em."

"You should ask her about that sometime, boy – up and saved the whole lot of them, she did, and got a promotion for it, too! Before your time that was."

Elazul thought Galathea might have stood up for him, but he settled for a tight smile and the occasional crooked nod. Except it wore on, and on, and _damnit_, he'd _been_ there, he didn't have to hear it all second hand and lopsided!

"Come to think of it, hasn't been much trouble to speak of all over." Boyd emptied his pipe into his hand and brushed off the remnants into the impressive ashtray on the nightstand. "If you aren't too busy, you might want to drop in on the Festival, now that it's in full bloom and all.

That seemed to drag Galathea from whatever muse she was entertaining, and she gazed up at Boyd until her focus cleared. "The Festival...? Is that what's going on?"

"Certainly is. Might be good for you to get out and relax, put your feet up, that kind of thing. I _worry_ about you, Lieutenant, all this hustle-bustle isn't good for a young body, you know..."

"Oh, right," she murmured, thoughtfully. More abruptly, she sat up straight. "Actually, that might not be such a bad idea." After having arranged the paperwork properly, she fetched her staff and paused at the door. "Thanks, Inspector, as always, you've been a great help."

"Not to mention it, Lieutenant, not to mention it."

"Elazul, let's go."

The knight, having finally decided that enough was enough and cleared himself a space on the floor to sit down on, dragged himself up to follow her out.

---

If he were any other child, and if someone were to grab a hold of his arm and dragged him into a back alley, he might have panicked. He was not any other child, he was _Bud the Magnificent_, and he was not up to being kidnapped for any of the reasons some random jerk might kidnap a child for.

When he saw who it was, however, he glanced back and forth between them. At heart, he was still a child, and didn't need cajoling or convincing. Besides – he was a _mage_ for crying out loud.

He just wanted the juicy details.

"Whoa, what the hell happened to you guys?"

His guardian stared at him, disapproving.

"... heck," he corrected himself.

"It's a long story." Jumi-Galathea scowled, not wanting to go into details. Bud rarely needed the details.

"Awesome! Can I come with? I've been practicing this wicked new incantation, and-"

She cut him off with a gesture. "Not right now. Where's your sister?"

"With the pumpkin," Bud insisted, "She can watch it, I can help, and we don't even have to tell her!"

Galathea stared at him, her expression blank. "Pumpkin?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? We were growing the biggest pumpkin ever for the festival! We've been on it all summer long!"

"I've... been busy lately," Galathea said by way of an apology. She squared her shoulders, and glanced at Elazul. At least she remembered giving them permission to go to the Festival without her. "Look, has anyone been to the house?"

"No. Are you expecting someone?"

The woman ignored the question, pressing instead, "And there hasn't been trouble or anything?"

The boy took immediate offence. "Hey, we're not _that_ irresponsible!"

"It's all right," Galathea soothed his worry, kneeling to meet his stature; she came up a bit short. "Go have fun. Maybe I can get back in time to see this pumpkin of yours."

"Um, sure," Bud replied. Pausing for a moment, he had to ask, "You guys aren't going to stay that way, are you?"

Elazul considered the question with genuine regard, but Galathea smiled grimly. "I hope not."

* * *

A/N: Alright then. I kinda sat on this one, mainly because the pacing was bugging me. And I should probably be trying to stray away from humor if I'm going to be writing an investigative story, but, uh... eyeah. Point #2: hUeS -of- h a z e l asked if this was going to be an ElazulxHeroine fic. Although I consider it background to the main plot, the answer is _yes, eventually_, it'll be, at the very least, hinting in that direction. :)  



	4. A Lapse of Communication

_**Chapter Four**  
_**A Lapse of Communication**

It was often said, to those that knew of the town at all, that Domina slept for ten months out of the thirteen that made the local year. Of the three, one lent itself to a spattering of days across the seasons, and one was a distraction over midwinter. The remaining month was spent in festive celebration, and aptly named _Harvest_.

It was the quiet that had drawn her back in the first place. There was little trouble locally, and the trouble that pestered the larger cities strayed clear. There simply was nothing of worth, or so she presumed that the criminally minded would agree. She couldn't have named four out of five farmers, or their families, but Domina and its outskirts were, together, the single place Galathea felt honestly safe.

And yet now she felt on edge, waiting for the sky to fall.

All around them, the town celebrated joyously the end of summer. Reeds warbled madly, out of time to the pounding of the drums and villagers' feet. Weaving through the crowd, Galathea lost sight if Elazul more than once. Often, he blended in until, in a panic, she caught the _not quite_ in place of human nuance, and she realized he was still at her side.

Set up in two arching semicircles on either side of the bonfires were a cluster of tables and chairs. More than a few tents crowned outside the bounds of firelight, some smaller and more private, these mostly pitched by those that owned them, and some larger and more extravagant, likewise for visitors or the festival as a whole. Between the bonfires and the tents were the dancers and musicians, crowding in and out of the inner circle.

Galathea led the way to the tables, intent on a meal paid in good will and a safe place to watch and learn. Settling in farthest from the center, she goaded Elazul into following her example. A quick scan of the crowd revealed few she didn't recognize, in an easy enough number to keep an eye on. The lot as a whole appeared harmless, and yet...

Two chairs down, Elazul waved frantically to get her attention. Once he had, he spoke words she couldn't quite hear, until she leaned in and he raised his voice. "Could you tell me what we're doing?"

"If they know who I am, they likely enough know where I'm from, if not where I live," she replied, and some of her words were smothered. She added curtly, "We're waiting."

_Waiting?_ He wondered, whether out loud didn't matter. Galathea gave no indication of taking notice, so he sat back and, secure in the knowledge that at least one of them knew what they were doing, flagged down the first serving girl to come their way.

When his Galathea finished her census of the gathering, she glanced back to find him surveying the scene serenely over a mug of cider.

"I'm losing it." She grimaced, angry with herself for misreading such an important peculiarity. To Elazul, she asked, "How many of these have you had?"

Elazul held up two fingers, and added, "Including this one. Why?"

"Do you remember last Harvest?"

He was taken aback; although she didn't hear what he said, his expression got the message across with distinct clarity. _"... should I?"_

"You drank my entire cask of Empress Wine without so much as a hiccup."

_Ah_. He remembered _that_, although he hadn't remembered any particular harvesting going on at the time, the wine was quite remarkable. And still, he didn't understand what she meant. "And?"

"_And_, humans have a much lower tolerance than that," she said, in a facsimile of the patient way she tended to construe things. And yet she wasn't particularly making sense.

"Could you maybe explain this in a different way?" he requested brusquely, and she shook her head. Leaning forward, he asked again.

Her reply was instant. "I need you sober."

Elazul nodded absently, watching a trio of villagers as they danced past. "Which has what to do with cider?"

"Everything."

That made no sense, but he trusted her judgement and set his mug aside. Watching became that much more tedious. Added to it was a sense of exposure anxiety. He no longer had an activity through which to hide his scrutiny.

It didn't help that he had caught the attention of three young women, not far enough away down the circle of tables. He nudged Galathea under the table, bringing them to her attention. "They keep staring at me."

She didn't share his concern. "Because, Elazul, by _human_ standards, you might be considered fairly attractive."

"Most Jumi are," he mumbled, discomforted. Not surprisingly, his words failed to carry far enough for her to hear.

"I'm sorry?"

Elazul waved her off. "Nothing important."

"Stay here a minute," she said, sliding off the bench. Although he stood to follow, she _had_ said...

Communication was important; to ensure he wasn't being used as bait again, so he could at least _act_ the part, he called after her. "What?"

"I know that rav-," she called back, her voice carried away by the festival.

"_Stay here_," he mimed to no one. Right. _Stay here_. Simple. Something he could do, in other words.

Slipping back into his seat, Elazul reached for his cider. _To hell with being human_.

---

"I'm afraid," he apologized, almost sincerely, "you caught me at a bad time. Or I might know more..."

This time of year, the relatively quiet back roads and uneven rows of residential townhomes was the best to be had in terms of Domine privacy. It also allowed her a better scope of her surroundings, with the added benefit of not having to raise her voice or risk being overheard.

"But, as I understand it, there hasn't been a market for Jumi cores since..." Niccolo sighed for effect, "hmm, long before our time, I'd even say. Certainly, no one has come to _me_ about them."

"I'm surprised," Galathea remarked, anything but. For someone who dealt in anything that came his way, including illegal wares, Niccolo was loud. Talking to him guaranteed him talking to every last sentient alive, given enough time.

It was a chance, but one she could outrun. Besides... –

"How much as we talking, anyway?" the rotund peddler asked, breaking through her reverie. She scowled darkly when she found him staring at her chest.

"Forget it, Niccolo,"

"As you desire, love, but if you ever wish to sell..." he shrugged and grinned, hefting his impressive sack of wares over his shoulder with minimum effort, "you know where I live. Smile!"

He disappeared, taking a shortcut between empty houses... –and if it did come back to her later, at least it would be something.

Bracing for a return to the festivities, Galathea closed her eyes and counted towards _ten_. At _seven_, a hand grabbed her shoulder roughly, pulling her backward, off her feet. On experience, she rolled aside the moment she hit the ground, narrowly missing the heavy-set boot that crunched down into the dirt where she had been.

Distantly, even she had to admit... she wasn't expecting _something_ to have showed up so fast.

---

Elazul was good at picking out patterns of cause-and-effect. Decades of justified paranoia and blending in with a foreign environment did that to an individual. To him, it was easy to see that Galathea's leaving him alone had the effect of heightened attention about his person.

The odds weren't good. There was only so long he could hide behind his mug. Instead he decided on the direct approach.

"Go," he growled, sounding nothing like himself, "Away."

"It's Harvest!"

"It's fun!"

"Quit sulking!"

"I'm not sulking," he defended outright.

"You are!" all three girls insisted as one.

"Alright, fine, I _am_ sulking," Elazul admitted, "Now can I please sulk in peace?"

"No!"

"What kind of people would we be if we did that?" The one in the middle – _she_ was the ringleader. They may have all looked alike, but she was decidedly scheming above and beyond the other two.

"Yeah, you need some love."

He _had_ love; granted, it was of the tough, character-building kind. Not-so-secretly, he scanned the crowd. Galathea wasn't back yet... he wasn't sure where she was, what she was doing, or why she was even gone. Nor did he know when she was coming back. "Fine, whatever."

---

Mark the first, _ten stone, waiting to make an appearance. In charge, maybe... Feminine? But... not a woman._

Mark the second, _fifteen stone, mainly for muscle value. Don't discount some stealth in this one, not genuine... will fight dirty._

_Why do the worst always have to work in pairs? _Galathea regained her footing and squared off against the larger of the two. With a reluctant sigh, she bit her lip and fixed her focus on the giant of a man, updating her evaluation as she did, _twenty stone, mainly for weight. Wrestler._

"So," she said softly, trying to keep a feel for where the first was. She spoke mostly for her own benefit, and the calmness of her voice. "I doubt you'd be so kind as to tell me who you're working for..."

The heavy-set man's face lit up in a crocodile grin... in words, _Of course not_. Her staff was on the ground, behind him – one stumble on his part would probably snap the weapon in two. Galathea waited, nervously flexing her fingers. He didn't know it was there; he couldn't have known, or he would have crushed it already.

She backed off.

Mark One drifted behind her and, with Mark Two shuffling his feet and seeming complete disinterest, the woman spun about. The enthusiastic pirouette shifted to a dodge as Galathea felt the ground tremble beneath her, and she skid aside as hands the size of her dinnerware made a clumsy, lackadaisical grab for her back.

Switching strategies, Galathea made a wide dash-and-roll for her staff; in the moment it took for her fingers to count the lines and find their rightful place around the hemp-wrapped diorwood, she found herself sprawled on the ground, pressed under an impressive hunk of heel. At first, she was merely stuck, but the pressure increased with an agonizing lack of speed. If only for a moment, she wished she the core's itch would cease, but the dirt road tickled and the earth seemed to move simply to spite her. By the time she knew her ribs should have reached the breaking point, her vision swam in hypnotic vertigo, and it was hard to tell shade from speck from moving shadow.

A resounding _crack_ echoed in her ears and, fortunately, the bulk of the man missed her as it crashed to the ground.

Alarmed by her luck, Galathea clawed her way out from under the massive man's knee and rolled over. She struggled against the lifelong impulse to breathe, fighting for control. Fingers poked at her side, and made a jab at the core. She opened one eye and took note of the perpetrator's half-pint silhouette against the sky.

So... _not_ Elazul, then.

"You... didn't just... jumped off the roof?" she droned, trying to get around the cotton feeling in her mouth. Bud nodded enthusiastically, and Galathea groaned, forcing her aggravated body to sit up. "Thank you..." She pulled the boy into a tired embrace, and tightened her grip on his shoulders. "But, please, for the love of my sanity, never do that again."

"Aww!" Bud pouted. "Not even if-"

"No," the woman said, "Not even if."

Pulling herself to her feet with the help of her staff and support from Bud, Galathea glanced about for Mark One, but he was nowhere to be found. Her gaze fell on the behemoth at their feet.

"It's almost too bad you hit him so hard." She scowled. "We'll deal with him later."

Returning to the square, Galathea forwent panic. Elazul was not where she left him. The fervor had calmed considerably for the night, which aided her search, and yet... He wasn't there.

"Did you see where Elazul went?" she asked Bud, figuring it was worth a chance. She looked over what was left of the crowd, insecure in the knowledge that she could still remember what the Jumi-turned-Human even _looked_ like.

At her side, the boy fidgeted from foot to foot, keeping his gaze on the turned up dirt. "Well... that's the thing..."

"Spill." Galathea commanded, bracing for whatever evil had beset her friend and ward.

"The Tullio sisters got him," Bud confessed, which consisted of the least of her fears.

_Then again..._

"Define 'got'."

* * *

**A/N**: Phew! Right, so the Chapter Three-Chapter Four bridge is generally my problem point, motivation/plot speaking. Hopefully, I can get updates together a bit more reliably from hereon in. (Halloween season, so I can't promise, but I'll certainly try.) 

Also, I've been meaning to mention: To anyone who has read "Love Letters," you may wish to check the reviews. Someone got in on the fun. In addition, to whoever got in on the fun with Love Letters: I laugh. Hard. To this day. Thank you. :D


	5. Guiding Light

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Five**_  
**Guiding Light**

"... so it could have been worse."

She paused to sip her tea, and eyed the gently swaying cactus.

"At least I got there soon enough." Galathea sighed; dipping her fingers into her mug, she flicked the moisture at the plant, prompting a quiet shiver. "I already have two kids to take care of; I'm not ready to be a father."

Stepping into her slippers, the woman stood from her bed and sauntered over to her bedroom window.

---

However long he had slept, it didn't seem like it was anywhere near enough. That, or he had found yet another little difference that he had taken for granted. Or maybe it was all wrapped up in the same difference, he didn't know, and he could barely focus long enough to keep his head above the water. The reflection on the surface stared upward at the painfully blue sky through half-closed, unfocused eyes.

The thick rustle of fabric was far too loud, though, thankfully, one of the occupants of the disheveled barn had been randomly testing his hearing tolerance for a good several hours since the sun came up; some kind of bird, or perhaps a... dragon? He couldn't tell. Whichever it was, the difference made the heavy-stepped approach bearable. It was the harsh grip on his shoulder and the uninvited shaking that so neatly dislodged him from his precarious balance, forcing him to splashing hand-first into the trough to keep from drowning, that got to him.

The only problem was that he was in no shape to do anything about it. Although it didn't matter to his assailant, who tried to drag him up out of the shadow of the barn and into the blinding sunlight.

"Dude, get up," the boy told him. When that didn't work, he elaborated, with more pulling and prodding, "Get up, man, she is totally gonna kill you..."

Elazul managed to drag himself into a slouch, but, in doing so, lost what little interest he had in getting any farther. Bud relented, only when the sound of the front door cracking closed against its jamb drifted across the otherwise calm field. When the _she_ in question appeared, oddly serene in her natural surroundings, he outright panicked.

"Make a run for it," her apprentice squealed, "I'll distract her."

Running down the path to meet her, he planted his feet, spread his arms wide, and stood boldly in the face of adversity. Galathea didn't stop, but her pace slowed as she strolled closer – she kept her eyes on the boy as she walked past, giving him a fair amount of space, and he pivoted to face her the further around him she got.

It delayed her only in the slightest; once she had made the full half circle around him, she spun right back around and gave the boy no more mind.

Two paces away, no more and, likely, no less, she stopped and stared down at the Jumi knight. Cupping her mug in both hands, she watched him apathetically, likely picking out choice wordings of _I told you so_.

"If there's some'tha-... you want to say..." Elazul struggled to stand, struggled to regain _some_ sense of dignity, but got halfway before he sank back into the grass. At least when he was on his back, the queasiness faded to a blur. "Say it."

"I don't have to," Galathea replied, "Your hangover seems to be doing my job for me."

Intent on shielding his eyes from the light, Elazul laced his fingers together and buried his face in his hands. "You could have tried to warn me, at least."

"I did warn you, Elazul."

"Yeah, well I-"

"I also told you to watch my back," "but apparently your ears were on holiday with my neighbor's daughters sooner than the rest of you."

Elazul's blood ran cold. He picked his words carefully as he could, and went with decidedly simple, "When did you ask that?"

"When I left you alone."

"No." His recollection of the prior evening was fuzzy, at best; it was not, however, _that_ fuzzy. "You never..."

"Yes, I did," Galathea told him. Well assured in what she had and had not done, she changed the subject brusquely. "Get cleaned up. We have to go."

He tried not to sound as aggravated by that concept as he felt, and failed by a mere word, "Now?"

"Yes. Nearly getting killed gave me an idea." Turning her back to him, she tossed over her shoulder, "If you can argue, you can walk. Come on."

---

Elazul didn't ask where they were going. He didn't have to, as it seemed fairly obvious once they had gotten underway; he knew, in part, because had traveled this road several times himself. Once they were off the highway, the upward, rocky spire that was Gato Grottos rose in the distance, serving as a point of focus.

Under the circumstances, Elazul had more than an itch of curiosity... And, flanked by the elven adolescents, he struggled under a sinking feeling. He liked the Grottos. He honestly did – there was a homey feel to the rocks, and the network of caves that made up the Temple was _right_ in a way he treasured. But there didn't seem to be a reason for going there, least of all with the twins in tow.

But Galathea was, once again, nothing if not composed. The longer the silence between them dragged on, the harder it was for him to conceive of breaking through it.

So silence it was.

At the base of the rocky hills, Galathea abruptly wandered off the road, albeit in a straight line. Elazul was thrown off pace and, while Lisa stayed at his side, Bud scampered ahead, evidently having expected the change in direction. Almost immediately, he recognized the path, marked by stones here or there but otherwise overgrown to the point of obscurity. At the end of the broken walkway was an elaborate door, hewn into the side of the cliff. At the sight of it, Bud paused to tag Lisa as she caught up to him, and the pair raced towards the carved-out abode. Lisa got there first, and, upon catching up with her, her brother crouched down to give her a boost to the bell hanging overhead.

The door creaked open as Galathea nudged past her wards. Aligning herself with the doorframe, she waited patiently; the man who answered the door glanced at the twins, studied Elazul for a moment, then stared at the woman on his doorstep, almost expectantly.

"To what do I owe the... pleasure?" he finally asked, addressing her coolly. Elazul counted four heartbeats before Galathea requested wearily, "Can I come inside?"

"That depends," the man replied. He ran his fingers through his hair, unyielding, and stole a second glance at the company she was keeping.

"Can I," Galathea asked again, an edge to her voice that couldn't be ignored, "come inside?"

For a moment, Elazul thought the man was going to close the door and be done with it. Instead, he stepped back and said, "Come inside, why don't you?"

"Thank you," Galathea told him. Before she had finished talking, Bud was through the door; Lisa, hot on his heels, tripped over the jamb. The man caught her easily by the back of her robe and, once steady, she dashed to catch up with her brother. Galathea followed them both easily. Only Elazul hesitated while tried to get a feel for this man, whom he assumed was the master of the house, yet wore a bundle of padded leather armor as comfortably as most lords would a stately bathrobe. Apparently, the feeling was mutual.

"Well?"

Elazul stalked inside, and let his eyes adjust to the light before moving towards the open hearthroom, only to find it lit from above. Galathea made herself comfortable standing by the fire, while the twins played on either side of the firepit. The man retreated to an overstuffed sofa in the corner, and thumbed in his direction, addressing the woman directly, "Who's he?"

"Elazul, this is Escad, a knight in service of the Temple of Healing." Galathea sighed, waving from one to the other, then reversing the gesture. "Escad, meet Elazul, a Jumi of my acquaintance."

"A _what_?"

"I don't want to get into it right now."

"Right..." the man barely glanced back to him, and murmured, "Pleased to know you."

Before Elazul could respond, Galathea was already on a tangent. "Where's your wife?"

"Elsewhere," Escad replied, offhanded, "What's this about?"

Galathea moved to stand before him, looming as if to preemptively prevent an escape. "I need to get to the Underworld."

It was a surprise to three of them; she had the twins' open attention immediately. If Escad was surprised, he didn't show it; not to have his sprawl interrupted, he replied lethargically, "I thought you had your own way."

"Yes, I _had_ my own way," she divulged impatiently, pacing across the room and back, "Years ago. I sealed it off because it was too much trouble to maintain." Barely more gracious, she added, "You don't have to come with me, just show me how to get there."

"One other thing…" there was a break in her pacing. On the next circuit she had latched onto Escad's arm and dragged him to his feet, and, furthermore, to the nearest in a series of discreet archways sunk into the stone wall. There, hidden from this unexpected danger, she warned him of it through clenched teeth, "There's a creepy old man standing in your parlor."

"Congratulations," Escad replied, disregarding her covert paranoia, "You've noticed the servant."

The loss of situational control upset Galathea; a stray variable was the worst, because she could never account for them. "Explain, and explain _now_."

The Temple Knight did so, with what had quickly, to Galathea's experience, become his maxim. "Elene insisted."

Not quite ready to let go, she demanded to know, "How long has he been standing there?"

"The Underworld." Escad wrestled the conversation back to where it began, and refused to be swayed, much to her chagrin. "Fine. What's the other thing?"

"Elazul and my... apprentices, need a place to stay."

---

In theory, it was a difficult decision. A lesser woman might have regretted making it, but Galathea had too much resting on her shoulders to let the little things get in the way. She needed Escad to show her the way, and she needed someone to guard her brood. Elazul had taken it either exceptionally poorly, or exceptionally well – that she couldn't tell bothered her, and that it was quite likely the former got under her skin.

It was also not something to be dwelled on while miles underground, hunting for death. So instead she focused on coiling the rope and tried to remind herself that it was difficult for everyone.

She looked up to see Escad staring at her, with equal parts humor and annoyance playing across his face. He was never one to conceal his emotions, she knew by experience; it was something she respected of him. "What?"

"I'm reminded why we never do this anymore."

Biting her tongue, Galathea resumed her work until the coil was within a hair of perfect.

"Hey Galathea..." The only thing that kept her from taking it apart and doing it over,

"You know those people you're always so worried about..." was survival instinct.

"...who'd sell you out over a meager grudge?" The automatic response to the slow, practiced scraping of the sword made her grab for her staff. She froze when she followed Escad's gaze to the cliff above them, where the dimmest light flickered across the cracked ceiling, casting shadows that even she could see. "I'm not one of them. Get going."

"Best of luck."

"I'll see you topside," Escad assured her.

Standing on the edge of the cleft of in earth, she took a deep breath and leapt into the nothing.

After she had gone, he tossed their torch into the abyss after her, and waited in darkness. "I hope..."

---

The landing was softer than the fall, and almost cushioned. Once Galathea recovered, she found her vision bathed in the light of the earth, and the bright shimmer of her stolen core. She stumbled under the empty sky of a ceiling, overwhelmed at the vastness of the world out of time.

Paying no attention to the burnt-out torch at her feet, she quickly chose a direction, determined to make this unhallowed trip as fast as possible. She loathed this place, and she was fairly certain that it was a shared sentiment. Part of her wished she could have convinced Escad to accompany her, after all.

_Any guide_ would have been better than wandering around blind.

On cue, an off-key, on-key song, rife with mismatched rhymes, reached her ears. Before she could recant, the oddly colorful Wisdom appeared out of the inky darkness, leading a flock of drab souls; the contrast was almost too much for her. _Almost_.

"And here, we have a hero, never done fear-o, she'll not likely eat you... except maybe you, since you don't strike me as the virtuous type." Pokiehl paused and stared, suddenly curious, "What're you doin' down this end, mi'lass?"

* * *

**A/N**: Fair warning: there's a given chance percentage of me mixing up Escad and Elazul's names at any given time. It jumps a whole lot higher when they're in the same scene. Also, one of these days, I swear I'll write a nice long LoM story that has _nothing _to do with the Underworld, or trips there to. 


	6. Inner Security

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Six**_  
**Inner Security**

The home, humbly etched out of the cliffside, was furnished like a museum. There were certainly a few rooms well in living order, but a vast number more were locked off or simply abandoned. The children made use of this, leaving footprints in the dust as they explored at their leisure. With nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm, Elazul followed out of a sense of duty, lagging behind at every turn. Upon finding himself hopelessly lost, with no trail to follow in a more frequented living chamber, he set himself down on a musty old couch and sighed.

The past few days... not to mention, the past few _years_ weighed heavily on him. Somehow, being stuck in this shell instead of his own made the burden that much harder to bear; yet it all revolved around and fell away to a single question, that wormed its way around his mind and repeated itself without mercy. In truth, there were only two answers: neither of them he could decide upon, and he mouthed them in variants of _she does_ and _she doesn't_. In this testing the veracity of each, he found both wanting.

"What's wrong?" Lisa asked, suddenly peering over the backrest. Elazul hissed an oath of surprise, but the girl only looked at him, wondering.

"Does she hate me?" he asked, frustration adding a harshness to his voice he did not intend. If the answer was _yes_, he had to live with it; if the answer was, _no_... that, too, would he have to live with.

Bud appeared out from under the couch, and the siblings glanced at one another curiously, then back to him as one. Lisa tilted her head and smiled. "What makes you think that?"

At the same time, Bud recovered his voice, "_Dude_-!"

"She left me behind," Elazul said softly.

"So?" Lisa asked, leading the thought as if it were no consequence.

"She _always_ leaves me behind."

The girl gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, while her brother sputtered. "She leaves us behind all the time, too."

"What the hell are you on, jewelry-man?" Bud demanded outright, "She _likes_ you."

Elazul glanced at Lisa, who smiled nervously and shrugged; both turned to face Bud, who shook his head incredulously.

"I mean it, dude!" He thrust a finger at the knight to make his point, "The one and only person she's ever smiled around – and I mean _really_ smiled around, not that 'I'm gonna blow your mind open if you move an inch,' crap – is you."

They stared at one another for a time, with Lisa glancing between them, before Elazul quietly broke the silence. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better."

"Whatever," Bud scoffed in return. He bounded for the nearest door, pausing only to call back, "Hey, Lisa, coming?"

The girl sighed shortly, but called back, "Yep!"

With that, they left him alone... Which, he decided at length, was nothing more than he was used to.

--

The last thing she would have expected to find was the overtly festive peacock of a Wisdom, parading souls about like unto a mother hen. He simply didn't seem the type, but it was, as he said, all part of the job... _what_ job, she wasn't quite certain, nor did she wish to know.

"I'm in a hurry," she explained curtly. "Can you or can't you help me?"

"If I can, I will," Pokiehl replied, perfectly honest, "If I can't, I'll sit out."

"I'm looking for someone."

"Narrow it down." The bird-man smiled in that queer way that was all in the beak, and would have turned her stomach if she gave it the time. Galathea sighed sharply; she may as well have been poking about at random.

"I killed him... some days ago," she should have been able to tell _how many_ days; that she couldn't unnerved her, "Before I got the answers I needed out of him. Can. You. Help. Me? Or do I have to do it myself?"

Pokiehl looked her up and down, and circled around her. His spirits followed him, but while his study was attentive and discerning, they looked through her with dead eyes. Abruptly, she focused on the Wisdom's hawkish gaze, paying them no mind.

"You may find getting directions – let alone answers – a wee bit difficult, given your current... condition."

"Excuse me?" The flat question garnered the same answer, in other words.

"You may find discourse a dainty bit difficult, but I shall act as dignitary if you so desire." His eyes twinkled at her failure to comprehend, and he further explained the would-be joke, "Jumi don't have souls, m'dear."

"What do you mean, 'don't have souls'?"

"I mean, their spirit is bound up in the physical, rather than this," he waved his hand to the darkness. "They do not need this afterlife; theirs is another path."

"I've seen them here before," the woman pointed out irritably.

"You've seen the essences of still beating cores," the Wisdom corrected her, "waiting for tears of healing. The still living, not the truly dead. My offer stands."

"Fine." Galathea clenched her jaw, and, with her staff, gestured towards the depths of the Underworld, "Let's go."

Pokiehl left his flock hanging on the wall, with the promise of a swift return. "Not," he whispered, conspiratorial, "that _they_ would know it."

Galathea rolled her eyes.

--

She took him entirely by surprise.

She waltzed into the room on a cloud, dropping her bags by the door. Admiring herself in the vanity, she caught sight of him when he sat upright; it was obvious in the way she breathed that she hadn't been expecting _him_, either, but she took it far better than he did.

"You're a cute one, aren't you?" Not bothering to turn around, she smiled in such a way that his stomach crawled up into his throat. "I certainly don't know you, which mean you're a guest of... my husband." Cocking her head, she added flatly, "Or you're trespassing."

Determined to keep his secrets, Elazul found himself uncertain of how to answer her honestly.

"Well?" she demanded. Resting her chin on daintily outstretched fingers, she pondered over his continued silence, studying him intently. "I do hope it's trespassing."

In the mirror, he caught sight of Bud peering around the doorframe. Panic gripped him, and his attempts to wave the boy back only made him obvious. The woman followed his gesture, and beamed outright. Caught, Bud stalked forward, followed by Lisa, who followed four steps behind him. Both were well on guard, which was better than Elazul could say for himself.

"And who are these delightful little imps?" the woman asked, "Are they yours?"

"Elves, ma'am," Bud corrected. Lisa piped similar, "No, we're not."

"I see," she replied, brushing the children off as she moved to sit by Elazul on the couch. He couldn't move fast enough before her hand was clamped firmly around his far shoulder.

"Now then," she smiled her disarming smile, setting him ill at ease. He glanced at Lisa, who narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and Bud, who outright glared. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my chambers, hmm? Oh, and please – don't be shy..."

--

When at last she found what she was looking for, she was of two minds. That the search was over, with no great time lost, was elating. The shame of it was that this was not the deepest, darkest pit of the Underworld, where she might have wished them to be.

Spirits crowded the room dimly lit, sparsely furnished room. None of them seemed aware of the others, although they gave each other space to wallow in their afterlives. The gigas flowed through the crowd at the edges, while the had-been Jumi with the wolfish grin reclined on a table, for lack of better arrangements.

Neither looked up. Neither took notice.

"I need to talk to them," she sighed, acknowledging the Wisdom for what he had said. He tipped his hat, and stepped forward, garnering the attention of the room.

"Excuse me, cats, but my old lady wants to jive with you fine fellows, if you dig it." She shot the Wisdom a warning glance, to which he merely adjusted his hat. "Your generation, Ma'am."

"Right. Who is he?" Galathea pointed to the man on the table, and Pokiehl followed the gesture dramatically.

"The fine lady wishes to know your address, good sir."

The man lifted his eyes to the Wisdom, squinting in disbelief. "_Bite _me."

"Legraim," Pokiehl translated. The stranger's shock was evident, although it did not last. Galathea's, however, did.

"How do you know that?" she outright demanded.

"You'd be surprised at what I know," Pokiehl preened, "And possibly at what I don't."

"And before you ask," he added at her bursting question, "No, I don't."

The woman swallowed her irritation. "Alright, fine. Cut them a deal: Tell me who employed them, and I'll grant them peace."

As the offer was relayed, Legraim snorted.

"I wouldn't betray him for the world." Glancing over his shoulder, he eyed his accomplice seriously, easily picking him out of the crowd. "You?"

The giant shook his head, and the motion sent ripples down his spectral form.

"Seriously?" Galathea asked, skeptical, "Why not? _He_ betrayed _you_."

Pokiehl translated, "Why ever not, when the table's so evidently turned?"

"Obviously," Legraim replied; he placed his hand over his heart, and, sighing for effect, murmured, "You've never been in love."

At that, she choked on the air, earning a sympathetic pat on the back from Pokiehl. Before she could muster a strong enough reply, Legraim blinked in surprise. A slow grin spread across his face, and he looked right through her. "You, too, huh?"

Galathea glanced back at the new arrival; her breath hitched in her chest, and she narrowed her eyes in instant recognition. Blindly, she reached for Pokiehl, gripping tightly at his feathers. Her words were bare, _breathless_.

"Send me back."

"Back?" The Wisdom cocked his head, staring from one eye, "Back where?"

"Back where I came from, you two-bit ponce!" she hissed, spinning on her heel to face him.

It was the glimmer in his eye that reminded her why insulting Wisdoms was a bad idea. No sooner were the words spoken, with so casual a lilt...

"Why, _certainly_."

... than did Galathea find herself standing _on_ the abyss. Precariously perched on the outermost edge of the Underworld, with vast eternity stretched beneath her feet, she scrambled for a hold on... absolutely _nothing_. Cosmic understanding did not make the situation any easier; upon regaining herself, she tightened her grip on her staff, and, step by step, made her way towards the cliff.

From there, there was no direction but _up_. Slinging her staff behind her, she began to make her way.

The climb itself was repulsively slow. Truthfully, Galathea admitted that knew little about scaling cliffs; only that she did not wish to fall. Not that there was fear to it... the worst she could end up, she had only just left.

It was time that bothered her most. The clinging, tenacious measure that swore, up and down, _you're already too late_.

_Should've stayed in Geo_, she grumbled to herself. _Should've been a scholar..._

The farther she managed, the weaker she felt. The life of the hero was strenuous indeed, and, as she was loathe to admit, she was out of shape.

_Shouldn't have left_... _should've- _

A figure appeared in her peripheral vision, startling her and causing her to footing to slip. She hung on desperately, trying to ignore the rock biting into her fingers; pain numbed her arms as she dangled, struggling to get her feet back into place.

No one was there – no one that she saw... The moment she did, it was almost too late. She was falling; she was saved. A split-second after, she similarly rescued her staff from the nothing below.

Suspended over the nothing by a silver thread, the man held fast onto her. She knew she knew him, even if he was not who he was...

And the familiarity was mutual.

"Galathea Galilei... So we meet again," he purred, the alien baritone rumbling in his chest. He flashed her a friendly smile, "Ju'miss me?"

* * *

**A/N**: Urk... (don't mind me. still alive. i swear. ...just... trying to get back into the rhythm of things.)


	7. Impulse

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Seven**_  
**Impulse  
**

Staring was widely considered rude, as Galathea had drilled into them along with a right mass of other etiquette know-how, even if some of it was frilled around the edges where she didn't know either. Frankly, Bud never really cared. Yet, for all his oblique glaring at the woman who draped herself so ostentatiously on Elazul's elbow, Lisa saw it before he did.

He caught on a moment later, and the pair of them dashed behind the couch, out of sight, before their surprise gave them away.

"You see what I see?" Bud hissed. Lisa nodded, then shook her head.

"You keep watch on them," she whispered back, "I'll find Galathea."

They touched fingers briefly before Lisa disappeared into the nearest arched doorway. Rubbing his hands together anxiously, Bud found himself the darkest corner and waited. Part of him wanted to warn Elazul, too, but the more cautious part of him knew better than to draw attention to himself.

Lisa scurried as fast as she could, working her way back outside through the winding passageways. The rooms became brighter and more lived in, prompting her to move faster. Turning the corner between the kitchen and the antechamber, she ran headfirst into the house servant.

"I'm sorry," she curtsied politely, inching around him as deftly as she could, "I didn't mean to, I got a bit lost, you see."

He grabbed a hold of her shoulder. She was already making up answers in her head, but he didn't ask her where she had been or where she was headed; he didn't even point her in the direction he wanted her to go, as she might have expected. He _squeezed_.

Her scream was short and strangled; the man serenely clenched one hand about her throat. Far from calm, the girl struggled to call to mind the Circle, but her vision swam and her concentration fluttered dangerously. The shadow grew, until the hold loosened, ever slightly, and she managed to jerk free.

The moment she did, her attacker half-turned to face the master of the house, and was neatly cleft in two. His body fell one way, his head the other; her rescuer curled his lip in distaste, different from the sheer revulsion that overtook her. Gagging at the sight, Lisa covered her mouth and fought the urge to throw up.

"Are you all right?" Escad asked. There was a brusqueness to it, but that was to be expected – he never did know how to be properly concerned.

Lisa nodded, swallowing hard. Her throat ached, and her voice rasped when she spoke, "Is Galathea with you?"

"No." He half blinked before he remembered to ask, "Why?"

--

"You really should hurry, you know," Alexandrite told her. Galathea sighed deeply, gazing over the edge of the chasm. The climb had been long, and she had scattered all but her last nerve – she needed the few seconds to recover the rest, anyway.

"Tell me what you know," she replied darkly, "and I'll consider it."

"There was this one man, a human, if it helps you, asking about the Jumi." The man leaned in close, as though confiding a secret... or particularly savory gossip. "Specifically about Jumi cores."

Taking her time to clean out grave dirt from underneath her fingernails while she listened, Galathea waited politely for the rest, until she glanced at Alexandrite and realized he was waiting for an audience, at best. With a huff of admonition, she told him, "I'm listening."

"And I thought I'd... help him out." He shrugged amicably, to no effect.

"You don't say."

"Oh, don't mistake me, _Clarus_," Alexandrite warned her. "I meant no ill, I wanted to know what he was up to, was all."

"And what _was_ he up to?"

"You mean you haven't got it all figured out?" the man scoffed robustly at her intelligence; she granted as much, even if she did not appreciate the joke. "He wanted a core, of course. One in specific. Mine..." There was a hitch to his voice as he favored his wording, or she imagined it. "Mine simply wouldn't do."

"Cut the act." Standing with the help of her staff, Galathea paced a circle, coming to stand before of the would-be Jumi savior. "Tell me straight, and stop wasting my time."

"No appreciation for a good story, you." Alexandrite wilted, but Galathea nudged him with the tip of her shoe. He stood, slowly, gazing upwards at the vaulted cave ceiling. "Alright, fine. He wanted a specific core..."

"You said."

"... _of_ the Jumi that had fallen into his lap some years back. She was in hiding, he protected her. He was smitten, or whatever you humans are when jealously guarding something you want to keep, no matter what _it_ might think of the situation."

"Hypocrite." Alexandrite crossed his arms, and the woman repented, ever slightly and if only at face value. "Keep talking."

"So when you ever so graciously saved u-... saved _them_, she wanted to return to her kind. He became bitter and wanted to keep her core if he couldn't at least keep her. Know who she was?"

"Yeah, I do." A Jumi. A girl whose only sin was wanting to live, and turning to the wrong man. _Peridot_. Galathea closed her eyes, wishing she could get away from the alien glow of the earth. "Where do you come in?"

"I wanted to know what he was up to – decisive planner, he is. He knew you were around, and knew he had to throw you off track somehow if he was ever to get away with it."

"_Sandra_." Darkness gathered around her hand, trailing along the length of her weapon. Alexandrite took note of it with as much disdain as he might a mosquito; ignoring the warning, he drawled on at his own pace.

"He needed someone to test his magic on. He wanted to make sure a life could be destroyed, and the core remain. I..."

This time she heard it clearly, as his voice hitched again. He sunk to the ground, no longer interested in the conversation.

"I was a convenience."

That was all she was going to get. Having had enough of Alexandrite's self-pity, Galathea measured the distance and the date, although the day eluded her. Being deep in the earth, she failed to get her bearings; she kept thinking it was Gnome's day, though it somehow seemed appropriate enough.

"As I already told you, you should hurry Galathea Galilei."

His voice cut through her meditations, much to her annoyance. Taking no further time, she cut open the rift and stepped through. She hated that method, would have preferred it any other way, but she was out of time.

--

When Escad stormed into the room, his sword bare and still stained from its last kill, Elazul immediately felt for his own blade for reassurance. Escad did not appear to be a man who maltreated his weapons thus, which meant that he likely to be expecting a fight. The temple knight took no notice of him, but stalked to the vanity, where his wife admired herself with all due grandeur.

"How _dare_ you allow into _my_ house a man who-..."

He trailed off as Elene turned to face him, and he fell to staring at her chest. Regarding his appearance, she greeted his arrival with an air of haughty indifference, "Been traipsing about the countryside, playing hero again have you?"

Raising his gaze, Escad asked, dangerously metered, "... what is that thing around your neck?"

"This? It's nothing, just something I picked up in Geo-" She tried to dismiss him, but he caught his fingers under the long chain and slipped it over her head. It was only then that her eyes darkened. "Really, Escad, you can be quite impolite..."

"Elazul..."

"That's _mine_," Elene snarled. Escad ignored her, tossing the necklace to his guest instead.

"...catch."

The necklace itself was simplistic in design, silver and green mineral beads, with an expertly cut green gemstone pendant. It was less the circumstance, and more the stone that sparked his understanding. Had he been himself, he was certain that he would have felt its resonance. He held the thing half away, too horrified to draw it close, but unable to merely cast it away.

"I thought so," Escad said flatly. Turning back to Elene, he demanded outright, "Where did you get it?"

"Give it back," she snapped in reply. "It's mine."

Elazul finally broke through his trance, and drew his sword. In his offhand, he clutched the fractured Jumi core so tightly that he could feel his pulse beating in place of where the sparkle should have been. Flanking him, each of the twins pulled their eccentric weapons from... _somewhere_, proving their tutelage nicely.

None of this deterred the woman.

"Suit yourselves," Elene sneered. She turned her back to them, facing the vanity mirror. With a flick of her fingers, the mirror shattered into a thousand tendrils of light.

--

The rift opened into a locked closet, to her complete annoyance. Hoping she was, at the very least, in the right _house_, Galathea borrowed a small amount of Gnome's power to blast the door open. Stepping out, she brushed herself off, and looked around.

It _seemed_ to be Escad's dwelling... although even if it was, she would still be obligated to apologize for such an indecent and unwelcomed entrance. The more she tried to ignore it in favor of the more pressing matter at hand, the more it prickled her sense of good conduct. Fortunately, there was something else prickling at her senses – a surge of Mana, drawing in and resonating outwards in a circular pattern.

Cautiously, she sent a filament of an idea to Lisa, and was not surprised that it went untouched. After a moment, she sent a second to Bud, but this, too, went unanswered. Following the whirlpool, she stumbled upon the remains of the servant in the kitchen. This was no surprise, not the cause of the disturbance, and answered her nothing, so she continued onwards.

In the heart of the mansion, the disturbance was at its peak. Here, in a sitting room, she found the closest thing to an explanation she knew she ever would – broken glass and scattered green beads.

Here, she sat on the couch facing what remained of the mirror and thought.

They were gone, this was certain.

But at least now there was a trail to follow.

_You've been played_, she warned herself, _You'll be walking into a trap._

"Do I have a choice?" she answered out loud, honestly wishing that she did. Digging into her pouches, she retrieved the half of a mirror that she possessed. It was small, ancient, and reeked of sorcery – it would have to do.

* * *

**A/N**: This space for rent. (I forgot what I was going to say, anyway.)


	8. The Fifth Realm

_Ballad of the Blue Roses_

_**Chapter Eight**_  
**The Fifth Realm  
**

After the light, the first thing Elazul noticed was the almost unfamiliar deadened sensation that weighed down half his body. Instinctively, he reached for his core... the pulse came naturally, steadily reverberating... comforting, or it should have been...

But it wasn't. For if he was here – wherever _here_ was; another problem entirely – whole, as he was shaped, as he was created to be, then where in Fa'Diel was Galathea?

"Here."

She appeared at his side, much as she ever was – solemn, caring, and altogether human. He smiled softly at that, only the least bit cautious. "You're reading my mind, now?"

Galathea gave a feeble shake of her head. "You are going to ask, _Where are you_. I'm here now; I won't be in a moment."

"Can you explain that," he wondered aloud, "Or am I going to have to take this one on faith?"

"This is the fifth realm," she said, with an unusual hint of reverence, as though it explained everything.

"Yes, I see, 'the fifth realm'," Elazul waved his hand in a dangerous mockery of her ephemeral glyphs, "What does it _mean_?"

"Take it on faith," she suggested, "And follow me."

With that, Galathea turned away, visibly fading in the eldritch haze of obscurity. Familiar pain swelled through his body, but fought against the undercurrent as best he could – this was the worst time to be growing. When he looked again, she was gone.

"'Thea? Where are..." he caught himself halfway through, and the last word fell flat, "...you."

Once again, he found himself placing his fate squarely in her hands.

---

"_The first realm is the realm of Mana... the second is the realm of the Fae, the third is the realm of Men. This... is the fifth realm, where everything intersects. And doesn't."_ It did not have a name, or a designation. It was there, although only those versed in magic knew it was there or how to find it, and not always both at once... but not one of them knew what it was _for_.

Mages did not tread the danger lightly. Wizards did not tread the danger lightly. Galathea did not tread the danger at all, when she could avoid it. The first time she set foot in this place, with all her childish ambition, she had naturally understood that she was or would be here again. By the third, she was versed enough to intuit that she had made five such journeys in her life, although two of them were yet unknown to her. That she could now make her way with confidence, following the naturally still currents of the realm, did not set her mind at ease. She focused instead on finding those she had misplaced.

Both Bud and Lisa followed separate, winding threads to her side, as she only needed to guide them from afar rather than seek them out. Elazul, she suspected, only needed a nudge in the right direction. Escad knew many of the paths in and out of the Underworld, but this was not the Underworld, nor the Realm of the Fae, nor anywhere else he might have been, so she suspected him to be hopelessly lost.

"We're dealing with a mage," she delineated when Elazul found her again, "An Artificer, I think, who has been very cautious until now." Coming across Escad on her peripheral, still recovering his balance from his decent, she added, "How could you _not_ know she was a man?"

"How was I supposed to?" he answered evenly, perhaps less affected by his surroundings than any of them. He merely took it for what it was – an unfamiliar happenstance. Had she not been suitably distracted, Galathea may very well have envied the limits of his intellect.

"Didn't you-... Rather... If you don't get along and you never..." she paused to collect her question, and served it colored with genuine curiosity, "_Why_ did you marry her?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"_No!_" the sorceress fluctuated, clearly vexed. Not quite suicidal enough to scoff at her ignorance, Escad answered honestly, if a bit terse.

"I needed to sire an heir."

"Ah huh," Galathea managed, with more composure than she felt. She was starting to see the problem. "_How_, exactly?"

Completely lost behind her line of questions, Escad shrugged it off as inconsequential. "How else?"

The temple knight began to bristle under the woman's silently demeaning stare. Coming to his rescue, Bud piped up, sharing his wisdom with a learned air of understanding.

"You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much..." the boy faltered when his master's thoroughly bewildered gaze landed on him, and squeaked, "_Nevermind_, not important!"

"No, that's fine," Galathea nearly choked, "In fact, I think Escad really needs to hear-"

"We've got company," Elazul warned, drawing up his sword for protection. A crackle of lightning shattered against the barrier Galathea erected at a thought. Pushing past him to stand at the front, between her allies and their assailant, she addressed the stranger by the only name she knew him by.

"Elene, I presume."

"If you like," the man answered, smiling wryly.

"What I'd like is to know who the hell you are," Galathea snapped in reply. Aside, she warned, "_Don't_," as Elazul flanked her and Escad began to move past her. "Stay behind me."

The mage scoffed in disdain.

"That, my sister, is one ignorance you shall have to suffer," he purred, full of himself in the way that wizards of his stature often made a clear point to be, "Suffice it to say, I am your enemy."

"I noticed," the woman scowled. Although his first spell had been nothing short of child's play, more of an introduction than an attack, his smugness was overwhelming. Still, Galathea did not attribute her survival to simple chance; she felt certain he was still holding an advantage that she could simply not see.

"Lisa," the girl lifted her head, no less attentive than she had been a moment ago, "What are the five principles of travel?" When her protégé hesitated, the sorceress further prompted, "_Now_."

Still skeptical, Lisa recited, "Origin, destination, locus, speed, and distance."

"Good. Bud," the boy perked up, no longer interested in the enemy's vain, poofy hat. "You remember last winter, how we grew vegetables in the snow?"

"Yeah," Bud began skeptically, "We used a-"

"Good," the woman repeated. She began to look over her shoulder, but changed her mind.

Dropping her shield, she began to draw energy to her, but not fast enough. At the speed of thought, Elene attacked; Galathea caught the orb straight on, and closed her hand around it, blocking its light. She blurred around the edges, ever so slightly, and tightened her grip, fading all the while as the white current washed her away.

It took no time at all to sink in. Bud recovered first, frothing with rage and violent words. He would have charged the sorcerer, then and there, if Escad hadn't grabbed him by the scruff of his robe and held fast. Elene seemed as surprised as any of them, but recovered just as quickly, and with far more glee.

Escad sighed, raising his sword in a strange, outlandish salute. "Well, she always said, _heroes never live_-"

"-_to the end of the story_."

Escad looked surprised, and perhaps mildly annoyed at being interrupted. Nevertheless, he took the revelation in stride. "You too, huh?"

"Yeah," Elazul admitted quietly, "Me, too."

"Right." The temple knight replied, terse, "Fast from both sides; she can take down one of us, but I doubt she can take down both of us."

"And _us_," Bud reminded him.

"Get out of here, the both of you," Escad snapped.

"If you can," Elazul added under his breath. Lisa shot him a sour glance that she could only have learned from Galathea.

"We can't," she said, "But we _can_ cover you."

"Keep trying," were Escad's last words on the subject, before he rushed forward, trusting Elazul to follow. He was not disappointed.

Elene, for his part, watched the exchange with high spirits, taking the attack with an air of steady amusement. The first jolt of magic threw Escad off his feet, giving Elazul the opening he needed. Except Elene deflected his strike with a steel-shafted staff, pulled from the ether, or an echo of reality. It didn't matter to him where it came from, only that it was there, and that Elene could use it. Escad recovered, warded by Bud's protective spell. His second spell deflected, and Lisa's green growing vines menacing him from the darkness, Elene vanished.

He appeared for a moment, and stopped Lisa's split-second spell, an explosion, with a wave of his hand. In the same instant, his counterspell found its mark, and Bud cried out in pain. The boy was struck by a burst of lightning, slow and paralyzing. Escad deflected a volley of missiles, the strain of which snapped his sword in two.

A split-second whirring caused Elazul to turn back, and instinctively, the Jumi crossed his arms over his chest, guarding his core. The air blast cut deep, through one wrist and into the other. Half his arm dissolved as it fell away; sand poured from the wound, and he shook his hand as it reformed, scattering fine dust as he tried in vain to extinguish the tenacious itch that came with it. He barely noticed the second air blast, which struck a shield. When he looked again, Galathea was there.

She stooped over Bud, comforting him, not unlike a child with a skinned knee. Likewise, she patted Lisa's shoulder as she stepped by, now focused on Elene.

"Was that all you had for me?" she asked flatly. The wizard paled before her quiet irritation, an answer unto itself. "I was expecting more."

The magic of the realm flowed around her, eddies and currents marking the way for her passage. She phased in and out between steps, and it was difficult to see her directly. Elene stared through her, full of petty rage and hate.

"You started this game," the Artificer told him, "But you have no idea how to play, do you?"

"And what do you know about anything?" Elene huffed, in indignation, "Anything of worth? You wind yourself so tight with magic and books and incantations that you miss what is real and important in life. Tell me when you have ever lived as I have; tell me when you have ever _loved_ as I have."

Galathea choked. She laughed then, a strangely disquieting, almost mirthful laugh that started with a small giggle and soon had her grasping her staff for support. Bud and Lisa could only glance between themselves, for they had never seen such a thing, but knew enough to understand that it would likely end in pain. Escad, presuming her mad to begin with, merely took the respite to collect the shards of his sword and stick them behind his belt.

"Oh," she said, breathless suppressing another chuckle, "I'm sorry, you were serious." She composed herself, disintegrating a half-hearted attack before it struck her. Magic gathered dangerously around "Unfair is fair. To answer your question, _rhetorical_ as it may be, I know more about life and love than you have learned in your all your years of peddling parlor tricks. Life is not about grandeur, and love is not so singular as you make it out to be." It was her turn to be indignant, as this appeared to be a sticking point, "Love is multifaceted, and you seem to only have managed a single fractal of it – it can be terrible and horrific, or soft and vain, or as beautiful or as ugly as the moons..."

"Thea!" Ignoring the twin's frantic bid for her attention, Galathea continued, and a storm of darkness gathered about her shoulders.

"I have seen it affect people to their worst, and to their best; I have felt its sting, more than once, if you must know, and I can honestly say – _what?_" She snapped, and Elazul jerked his hand back from her arm, mutely pointing to the children. Still stiff from his jolt, Bud relaxed a bit, encapsulating the problem at his leisure.

"You're monologuing."

She thought for moment, becoming fully solid as she did. Looking back to her company, then forward to Elene, who was attempting – surreptitiously – to draw magic while she was distracted. Galathea admitted forthright, "So I am."

The darkness that had been drifting around her staff, and occasionally catching, intensified as she composed herself. Light was not unaffected, bending and mixing with the strands of pure black as it escaped, forming murky colors. She tossed the weapon carelessly; it cut through Elene's spell, whatever it might have been, vanished into the cloud, absorbing everything around it.

When the last vestiges of darkness drifted away, the sorcerer was nowhere to be seen. Reclaiming her staff, as it reappeared near to her hand, Galathea turned and walked away, fading as she did.

* * *

**A/N**: Action scenes kill me, every damn time. -_-

... and I notice there be questions. (Questions that I intended to answer here, but appear to have run low on time. Ack!)


End file.
